Mashable

For just over five weeks, Apple and the FBI were embroiled in a legal and public relations battle for the ages.

At the center of the dispute was an iPhone 5C. This iPhone belonged to the employer of Syed Farook, one of the gunmen in December’s San Bernardino attacks. Authorities found the phone and wanted to peer inside it for communications or information that could be related to the crime.

There was just one problem: The phone was locked. And because it was running iOS 9 — Apple’s latest operating system — there was no proven way to access the phone without knowing the passcode.

That’s when the FBI asked a judge to force Apple to write custom software that would allow it to break into the phone. Apple declined, and the issue played out in court filings and in public statements.

At its center this case was about the tradeoffs between national security and user privacy. And even though this case has concluded (spoiler: the FBI found a way into the phone that didn’t involve Apple), those broader questions remain.

Here's the full story of how Apple and the FBI entered the ring, and then avoided the knockout punch — for now.